Shedden Genealogy

SHEDDENS OF HESSILHEAD, SCOUP, NETHERWARD (WOOD), DUDLEY AND BRISTOL

The genealogical chart is of descendants of Robert Shedden (b 1693) the third son of John Shedden and Margaret Montgomerie. Robert is referred to as "Mr Robert Shedden of Hessilhead" in an entry in the Beith parish register and so might have been considered as belonging to the minor gentry of the parish. Mention is made of the move to Dudley in England of his grandsons James (b 1771) and William (b 1776) and his great nephews Robert (b 1796), John (b 1802) and James (b 1804). All were cloth merchants or clothiers.

Robert (b 1693) was one of three Sheddens who served as heritors on the Kirk Session of Beith Parish Church when the then minister was Dr Witherspoon (later to become a signatory to the American Declaration of Independence and Chancellor of Princeton University.) This was at a time when the Scottish Church was at its most Calvanistic nature.

It would seem that the Dudley Sheddens were fervent Christians, none more so than William (b 1776). William founded the Sunday-school in connection with the Independent Chapel in Dudley and was for many years its superintendent. Later, he joined the Methodist New |Connection.

The Dudley Sheddens have many descendants, but those whom I have contacted are descendants of James (b 1804). I found that some memory of Netherward lived on and that at least one descendant visited Beith to see where his ancestors had lived.